Good Funeral Awards 2017

It’s British eccentricity at its best. Up there with the Loo of the Year Award and the Kebab Awards, the UK Good Funeral Awards return in 2017.

The quirky ceremony that recognises ‘outstanding service to the bereaved’ had its origins at an event celebrating the HBO TV series Six Feet Under in Bournemouth in 2011. It’s now back for the sixth year. The lunch for the great and the good of the UK funeral industry will be in the Porchester Hall in London on Thursday 7 September.

There are five new categories for this year’s funeral ‘Oscars’ reflecting the changes within the business. There is a new ‘What to do with the Ashes’ award to reflect the great number of options available now to family members to memorialise their loved ones cremains.

There is a ‘End-of-life Doula of the Year Award’. Doulas are well-known for providing support to women in childbirth, these individuals (sometimes called ‘soul midwives’) help to make the dying, and their families, feel safe and supported, as the person make the transition from this life to what’s next.

Out goes the ‘Embalmer of the Year’ award, replaced by a more general, ‘Care of the Deceased Award’. This is open to anyone in a back room role in the care for the body.

David Bowie and Anita Brookner went for a direct cremation in 2016. This is a new trend. It reflects a desire on the part of some people to cut out the funeral service altogether. We have a new category of ‘Best Direct Cremation Provider.’

We also have a category for the rising stars of the future: ‘Most Promising Trainee Funeral Director’.

There are twenty other awards, including the extremely popular, ‘Gravedigger of the Year’.

The winners are given an Anubis statue – the Egyptian god of embalming, presented in a miniature cardboard coffin. The judges select the winners based on nominations from members of the public and people working within the industry. They are designed to recognise the unsung heroes of the dismal trade.

The host this year will be author, Guy Browning.

‘The Good Funeral Awards have become the highlight of the year for the people in funeralworld, and nominations are already pouring in.

It is a privilege to read some of the stories that accompany nominations, tales of kindness, generosity and humanity that illustrate what a huge impact these people have had on bereaved families at the hardest time of their lives.

The funeral industry is rarely portrayed well by the media, but the Good Funeral Awards show just how much good goes on behind the closed doors of the undertaker’s parlour.’ said Fran Hall, CEO of the Good Funeral Guide.

The lunch draws people together people from all parts of the funeral industry. There will be an exhibition accompanying the event.